ABSTRACT
Like bureaucracies, knowledge centers are second-order information technologies and are encased by larger social structures. Until the twentieth century, with few exceptions, knowledge centers were adjuncts of religious and state structures and their faculties and students were accountable to religious and state authorities. The degree of accountability of faculties and students of contemporary knowledge centers to external authorities is highly varied. In some instances their activities are closely monitored and deviant actions are sanctioned, while in other instances they are subject to minimal surveillance and their actions are seldom sanctioned.
